3.09.2012

The Trout Stream

I hope the neighbors like it. Enough of them have stopped by to investigate. When one peered through the hedge and whispered (loud enough to be heard) "There she is, working on her trout stream again," I realized my dry creek bed had taken on a life of its own.

Throughout the summer I jack-hammered clay (yes I did, all 100 lbs of me), shoveled rock, lugged boulders, smashed fingers and crippled knees, but an honest-to-goodness stream bed now meanders through our yard, doing its job to correct seasonal flooding in front of the door; doing it rather spectacularly, if I say so myself. The bridge that Michael engineered over it, doubles as the perfect sun deck.

Blame it on Hooper House II with that concrete slab and pool. Yeah, that concrete slab and pool. When I ran across this photo of them, a 'flood' lamp went on in my head. Okay, so a cement slab is one thing, but leave it to me to dig a gully 20 feet long, 3 feet wide and 2 feet deep. "Enough!" my husband yelled, "You'll hit the water table!" But would I listen? Mind you, this project has a considerable way to go before it's finished - more rock, a stone patio to frame its banks, grasses and succulents to soften its stones - but the covey of California Quail that pass through our yard every day have adopted it as their winter watering hole, and I think it has made rather a splash with the rest of the neighbors too. They bring their friends. Maybe I should release some trout...

The Trout Stream is definitely a work in progress,
but still doing its job during the first heavy rainfall.